Day 13: Bungeeeee!

Another early start got us to the bungee booking centre for 8:45am. After weighing in (jumpers leap in descending weight order) we then took a seat for an long wait for the bus to depart – I grabbed a tea and coffee from the cafe across the road to perk us up a bit. At 9:30am we headed out on the bus, a lengthy drive that culminated in a winding treacherous road up a cliffside to remote Nevis Highwire bungee.

After being weighed (again) and strapped into harnesses, we were ferried out to the bungee gondola on a smaller hanging basket of a gondola. Being one of the heavier in the group (they were all thin, I swear!) I found myself jumping fifth, with little Laura leaping last in eighteenth position – she was so proud of herself! Inching out onto the ledge was sickening, I was strangely concerned that I would trip over the bungee chord and fall down the 134m… even though I was about to jump off.

The act of jumping was stomach churning and felt so… wrong! But the rush was phenomenal and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone. Unfortunately I was then unable to right myself by pulling the chord attached to my legs – meaning I was hauled in upside down like landing a big fish. I wasn’t the only one to suffer from this predicament – aside from the embarrassment, the only downside was red eyes from spending a few minutes upside down.

It was a long wait for Laura to jump, and after everybody else had gone without problem, the girl before her was the first to show any hesitation, which only made things worse for her. Eventually she was coaxed of the edge and seemed happy enough when she reappeared. Laura hopped out without hesistation, and being an experience bungee master (she jumped the same site a few years ago) she righted herself with ease and enjoyed the scenery on the way up (I had a better view of the riverbed at the bottom of the gorge though).

On returning to the bungee shack we were rewarded with certificates, t-shirts, juice and a hotdog while we watched the DVD which we ultimately decided to buy.

Nevis Highwire Bungee, New Zealand from Robert Young on Vimeo.

Nevis High Wire Bungee, New Zealand from Robert Young on Vimeo.

We were back in Queenstown for noon and headed to Dux De Lux for coffee, a couple of muffins and a half pint of delicious home brewed ginger beer (”Ginger Tom”). We then got the bus to the airport where we picked up a little Nissan Sunny from Jucy Car Rentals. The staff there were lovely and friendly – much more so than the folk in Auckland.

We then drove straight to Arrowtown for a quick walk through the 19th century Chinese settler village. It was not particularly interesting, our favourite bit was all the tasty plums growing on the trees around the village.

Next stop was the Gibbston Valley cheesery where we got a small, bland and overpriced cheeseboard and a similarly dinky wine tasting selection. We enjoyed sitting outside, but there must be better options in the area.

It was a short drive on to the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge bungee, home to the first commercial bungee in the world. We grabbed a few souvenirs for the Christmas tree (our own little tradition) and watched a few folk take the plunge – the twist there being the optional dunk in the water below. Personally I would go for the Nevis High Wire every time at almost four times the drop.

We then took the Cardrona pass over to Wanaka. The views were spectacular, but thanks to the inclement weather attempts to photograph it were rather disappointing. It was a windy road, but an easy drive to the Purple Cow hostel in central Wanaka.

We relaxed for a short time, leading Laura to crash out and fall fast asleep. I headed to the local supermarket for a few supplies – bread, honey and Vegemite (a thick Marmite). The hostel kitchen was superb – clean with plenty of available hobs. I made no use of it, preparing instead a round of toast. We then spent a short time on a slow, locked down web terminal before heading to bed, completely shattered.